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BEIJING: China braced against further protests on
Sunday as it prepared for the arrival of the Olympic torch amid
reports of fresh disturbances in the riot-torn Tibetan capital Lhasa.
Beijing tightened security in
Tiananmen Square, where the Olympic torch will be officially
welcomed to the country today before beginning a worldwide relay
expected to be dogged by protests over the unrest in Tibet.
Tension in the Himalayan region
continued to simmer, according to the Tibetan government-in-exile
and activist groups, which reported a protest in Lhasa on Saturday.
The disturbance occurred when
residents of Lhasa’s old Tibetan quarter panicked after police
moved in to check identity papers of people in the area, according
to the International Campaign for Tibet and the Free Tibet Campaign,
citing their own sources there.
The incident prompted police to
surround key Buddhist temples in the area and close many shops,
said the accounts, which added no reports of violence were received.
“Thousands joined in the
protests within no time,” according to a statement on the website
of the Tibetan government- in-exile in Dharamshala, India.
None of the reports could be
verified by Agence France-Presse.
Monks denouncing Chinese rule had
converged on the Jokhang temple, one of Tibetan Buddhism’s holiest
shrines, on Wednesday in the presence of foreign journalists who
were on a tour of the capital arranged by the Chinese government.
China announced Sunday what appeared
to be the first political casualty of the unrest, replacing the
director of Tibet’s ethnic minority and religious affairs
commission.
The report by the
state-controlled Tibet Daily offered no details.
Amid the unrest and foreign
pressure, China tightened security around the already closely
watched Tiananmen Square, site of 1989 democracy protests that were
violently put down by the government.
Authorities announced new spot
checks on visitors to “strengthen public security,” according to
the government’s main website, ahead of Monday’s torch-welcoming
ceremony.
Protestors disrupted the
torch-lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia last Monday, highlighting
concern about further trouble after China takes possession of the
torch in Greece on Sunday ahead of a four-month relay around the
world and throughout China.
Officials along the international
route have announced plans to beef up security amid threatened
anti-China protests.
Demonstrations in Lhasa on March
10 to mark a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule escalated
into widespread rioting in the city that spread to neighboring
Chinese provinces populated by Tibetans.
Beijing said rioters killed 18
civilians and two police officers. Exiled Tibetan leaders have put
the death toll from the Chinese crackdown at 135 to 140 Tibetans,
with another 1,000 injured and many detained.
Police arrested 26 people and
seized guns and other weapons from the Geereng monastery in
southwestern China, whose Tibetan monks rioted March 16, the
official Xinhua news agency said late Saturday.
The report did not specify
whether the 26 arrested on Friday were monks from the monastery,
located in Sichuan province, which borders Tibet.
Activist groups have said eight
people were killed in the Sichuan clashes, while China said police
merely shot and wounded four rioters.
It has been impossible to independently
verify such reports as China has sealed off access to affected areas
while launching a propaganda push to demonize the rioters and
prevent the unrest from tarnishing the Beijing Olympics in August.
China has ruled Tibet since 1951,
a year after sending troops in to “liberate” the region from
what it said was feudal rule, but Tibetans have long chafed under
Beijing’s rule.
--AFP
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